Gary Brown: Good e-mails can come in small packages

I don’t read upper-case e-mails any more closely. It isn’t as if I get an e-mail and tell myself, “Oh, well, wait, this one is written in BIG letters. I’ve got to write about this.”

Gary Brown

“YOUR BODY: BOOGERS AND ALL.”

That was the subject line of an e-mail I received recently, illustrating once and for all why you wouldn’t want my life, at last not the electronic part of it.

Working in a newsroom, I get somewhere in the neighborhood of a bajillion e-mails a day. They’re all competing for my attention. That’s probably why some of them come in with a subject line that is shouting at me in upper case letters.

“PLAYERS ARE URGENTLY NEEDED,” one revealed.

I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do with this, but in the two-sentence e-mail that started simply with “Hello,” someone named Horita Tasuku claimed they need players — “(striker and midfielder)” — for the premiership and champions league in England.

Standard procedure

E-mails that are sent to journalism types often begin with words that public relations people know will be recognized by editors and reporters. “NEWS RELEASE,” many say. "MEDIA ADVISORY,” others identify. “FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE,” others urge.

Or they include the words “STORY IDEA” or “FEATURE TIP.” It does catch attention, but those PR people should be warned that they’re setting a high standard with capital letters. The ideas and tips better be good.

“MEDIA ALERT,” one of my e-mails yelled at me the other day, as if I needed to know — now, if not sooner — that there was a picture inside this particular e-mail showing KIM KARDASHIAN carrying a black snakeskin clutch.

I hesitated long enough to acknowledge the style news, but did not stop any presses.

“REMINDER!” one of the e-mails threw up to me. “ATTENTION!” another called out. “PLEASE RESPOND!” a third e-mail requested, rather boldly, I thought. People, people, I’m only one person. No need to get up into my face.

Just wondering

All this upper case e-mail correspondence begs a question. Is BIGGER always BETTER?

I don’t read upper-case e-mails any more closely. It isn’t as if I get an e-mail and tell myself, “Oh, well, wait, this one is written in BIG letters. I’ve got to write about this.”

And even if I did use capital letters as my primary means of judging whether the subject of an e-mail is newsworthy or not, how am I going to be able to distinguish the difference if most e-mailers are trying to apture attention by punching their keyboards’ caps lock?

Journalists will have to resort to picking stories by counting the number of exclamation points.

By the way, “YOUR BODY: BOOGERS AND ALL” is a book about gross and interesting facts. You don’t need capital letters and excess punctuation with that kind of title.

Contact Gary Brown at gary.brown@cantonrep.com.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.

Community Info

Sister Publication

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
The Wellsville Daily Reporter ~ 159 North Main Street, Wellsville, NY 14895 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service